MEASURE FOR MEASURE

Act 2 Scene 2

(Enter the Provost and a Servant)
l1l	Servant	 He’s hearing of a cause# he will come straight.
l2l		I’ll tell him of you.
	Provost	Pray you do.
		(Exit Servant)
		 I’ll know
l3l		His pleasure# maybe he will relent. Alas,
l4l		He hath but as offended in a dream.
l5l		All sects, all ages, smack of this vice# and he
l6l		To die for ’t!
		(Enter Angelo)
		
	Angelo	 Now, what’s the matter, Provost?
l7l	Provost	Is it your will Claudio shall die tomorrow?
l8l	Angelo	Did not I tell thee yea? Hadst thou not order?
l9l		Why dost thou ask again?
	Provost	Lest I might be too rash.
l10l		Under your good correction, I have seen
l11l		When after execution judgement hath
l12l		Repented o’er his doom.
	Angelo	Go to# let that be mine.
l13l		Do you your office, or give up your place,
l14l		And you shall well be spared.
	Provost	I crave your honour’s pardon.
l15l		What shall be done, sir, with the groaning Juliet?
l16l		She’s very near her hour.
	Angelo	Dispose of her
l17l		To some more fitter place, and that with speed.
		(Enter Servant)
l18l	Servant	 Here is the sister of the man condemned
l19l		Desires access to you.
	Angelo	Hath he a sister?
l20l	Provost	Ay, my good lord# a very virtuous maid,
l21l		And to be shortly of a sisterhood,
l22l		If not already.
	Angelo	Well, let her be admitted.
		(Exit Servant)
l23l		See you the fornicatress be removed.
l24l		Let her have needful but not lavish means.
l25l		There shall be order for ’t.
		(Enter Lucio and Isabella)
		 
	Provost	 God save your honour.
l26l	Angelo	Stay a little while.
		(To Isabella)
		 You’re welcome. What’s your will?
l27l	Isabella	I am a woeful suitor to your honour.
l28l		Please but your honour hear me.
	Angelo	Well, what’s your suit?
l29l	Isabella	There is a vice that most I do abhor,
l30l		And most desire should meet the blow of justice,
l31l		For which I would not plead, but that I must#
l32l		For which I must not plead, but that I am
l33l		At war ’twixt will and will not.
	Angelo	Well, the matter?
l34l	Isabella	I have a brother is condemned to die.
l35l		I do beseech you, let it be his fault,
l36l		And not my brother.
	Provost	
		(aside)
		 Heaven give thee moving graces!
l37l	Angelo	Condemn the fault, and not the actor of it?
l38l		Why, every fault’s condemned ere it be done.
l39l		Mine were the very cipher of a function,
l40l		To fine the faults whose fine stands in record,
l41l		And let go by the actor.
	Isabella	O just but severe law!
l42l		I had a brother, then. Heaven keep your honour.
l43l	Lucio	(aside to Isabella)
		 Give ’t not o’er so. To him again# entreat him.
l44l		Kneel down before him# hang upon his gown.
l45l		You are too cold. If you should need a pin,
l46l		You could not with more tame a tongue desire it.
l47l		To him, I say!
l48l	Isabella	(to Angelo)
		 Must he needs die?
l49l	Angelo	Maiden, no remedy.
l50l	Isabella	Yes, I do think that you might pardon him,
l51l		And neither heaven nor man grieve at the mercy.
l52l	Angelo	I will not do ’t.
	Isabella	But can you if you would?
l53l	Angelo	Look what I will not, that I cannot do.
l54l	Isabella	But might you do ’t, and do the world no wrong,
l55l		If so your heart were touched with that remorse
l56l		As mine is to him?
l57l	Angelo	He’s sentenced# ’tis too late.
l58l	Lucio	(aside to Isabella)
		 You are too cold.
l59l	Isabella	Too late? Why, no# I that do speak a word
l60l		May call it again. Well, believe this,
l61l		No ceremony that to great ones ’longs,
l62l		Not the king’s crown, nor the deputed sword,
l63l		The marshal’s truncheon, nor the judge’s robe,
l64l		Become them with one half so good a grace
l65l		As mercy does.
l66l		If he had been as you and you as he,
l67l		You would have slipped like him, but he, like you,
l68l		Would not have been so stern.
	Angelo	Pray you be gone.
l69l	Isabella	I would to heaven I had your potency,
l70l		And you were Isabel! Should it then be thus?
l71l		No# I would tell what ’twere to be a judge,
l72l		And what a prisoner.
	Lucio	
		(aside to Isabella)
		 Ay, touch him# there’s the vein.
l73l	Angelo	Your brother is a forfeit of the law,
l74l		And you but waste your words.
	Isabella	Alas, alas!
l75l		Why, all the souls that were were forfeit once,
l76l		And He that might the vantage best have took
l77l		Found out the remedy. How would you be
l78l		If He which is the top of judgement should
l79l		But judge you as you are? O, think on that,
l80l		And mercy then will breathe within your lips,
l81l		Like man new made.
	Angelo	Be you content, fair maid.
l82l		It is the law, not I, condemn your brother.
l83l		Were he my kinsman, brother, or my son,
l84l		It should be thus with him. He must die tomorrow.
l85l	Isabella	Tomorrow? O, that’s sudden! Spare him, spare him!
l86l		He’s not prepared for death. Even for our kitchens
l87l		We kill the fowl of season. Shall we serve heaven
l88l		With less respect than we do minister
l89l		To our gross selves? Good good my lord, bethink you:
l90l		Who is it that hath died for this offence?
l91l		There’s many have committed it.
	Lucio	
		(aside)
		 Ay, well said.
l92l	Angelo	The law hath not been dead, though it hath slept.
l93l		Those many had not dared to do that evil
l94l		If the first that did th’ edict infringe
l95l		Had answered for his deed. Now ’tis awake,
l96l		Takes note of what is done, and, like a prophet,
l97l		Looks in a glass that shows what future evils,
l98l		Either raw, or by remissness new conceived
l99l		And so in progress to be hatched and born,
l100l		Are now to have no successive degrees,
l101l		But ere they live, to end.
	Isabella	Yet show some pity.
l102l	Angelo	I show it most of all when I show justice,
l103l		For then I pity those I do not know
l104l		Which a dismissed offence would after gall,
l105l		And do him right that, answering one foul wrong,
l106l		Lives not to act another. Be satisfied.
l107l		Your brother dies tomorrow. Be content.
l108l	Isabella	So you must be the first that gives this sentence,
l109l		And he that suffers. O, it is excellent
l110l		To have a giant’s strength, but it is tyrannous
l111l		To use it like a giant.
l112l	Lucio	(aside to Isabella)
		 That’s well said.
l113l	Isabella	Could great men thunder
l114l		As Jove himself does, Jove would never be quiet,
l115l		For every pelting petty officer
l116l		Would use his heaven for thunder, nothing but thunder.
l117l		Merciful heaven,
l118l		Thou rather with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt
l119l		Split’st the unwedgeable and gnarlèd oak
l120l		Than the soft myrtle. But man, proud man,
l121l		Dressed in a little brief authority,
l122l		Most ignorant of what he’s most assured,
l123l		His glassy essence, like an angry ape
l124l		Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven
l125l		As makes the angels weep, who, with our spleens,
l126l		Would all themselves laugh mortal.
l127l	Lucio	(aside to Isabella)
		 O, to him, to him, wench! He will relent.
l128l		He’s coming# I perceive ’t.
	Provost	
		(aside)
		 Pray heaven she win him!
l129l	Isabella	We cannot weigh our brother with ourself.
l130l		Great men may jest with saints# ’tis wit in them,
l131l		But in the less, foul profanation.
l132l	Lucio	(aside to Isabella)
		 Thou’rt i’ th’ right, girl. More o’
l133l		that.
l134l	Isabella	 That in the captain’s but a choleric word,
l135l		Which in the soldier is flat blasphemy.
l136l	Lucio	(aside to Isabella)
		 Art advised o’ that? More on ’t.
l137l	Angelo	Why do you put these sayings upon me?
l138l	Isabella	Because authority, though it err like others,
l139l		Hath yet a kind of medicine in itself
l140l		That skins the vice o’ th’ top. Go to your bosom#
l141l		Knock there, and ask your heart what it doth know
l142l		That’s like my brother’s fault. If it confess
l143l		A natural guiltiness, such as is his,
l144l		Let it not sound a thought upon your tongue
l145l		Against my brother’s life.
	Angelo	
		(aside)
		 She speaks, and ’tis such sense
l146l		That my sense breeds with it.
		(To Isabella)
		 Fare you well.
l147l	Isabella	Gentle my lord, turn back.
l148l	Angelo	I will bethink me. Come again tomorrow.
l149l	Isabella	Hark how I’ll bribe you# good my lord, turn back.
l150l	Angelo	How, bribe me?
l151l	Isabella	Ay, with such gifts that heaven shall share with you.
l152l	Lucio	(aside to Isabella)
		 You had marred all else.
l153l	Isabella	Not with fond shekels of the tested gold,
l154l		Or stones, whose rate are either rich or poor
l155l		As fancy values them# but with true prayers,
l156l		That shall be up at heaven and enter there
l157l		Ere sunrise, prayers from preservèd souls,
l158l		From fasting maids whose minds are dedicate
l159l		To nothing temporal.
l160l	Angelo	Well, come to me tomorrow.
l161l	Lucio	(aside to Isabella)
		 Go to# ’tis well# away.
l162l	Isabella	 Heaven keep your honour safe.
l163l	Angelo	(aside)
		 Amen#
l164l		For I am that way going to temptation,
l165l		Where prayer is crossed.
	Isabella	At what hour tomorrow
l166l		Shall I attend your lordship?
	Angelo	At any time fore noon.
l167l	Isabella	God save your honour.
	Angelo	
		(aside)
		 From thee# even from thy virtue.
		(Exeunt Isabella, Lucio, and Provost)
l168l		What’s this? What’s this? Is this her fault or mine?
l169l		The tempter or the tempted, who sins most, ha?
l170l		Not she# nor doth she tempt# but it is I
l171l		That, lying by the violet in the sun,
l172l		Do, as the carrion does, not as the flower,
l173l		Corrupt with virtuous season. Can it be
l174l		That modesty may more betray our sense
l175l		Than woman’s lightness? Having waste ground enough,
l176l		Shall we desire to raze the sanctuary,
l177l		And pitch our evils there? O, fie, fie, fie!
l178l		What dost thou, or what art thou, Angelo?
l179l		Dost thou desire her foully for those things
l180l		That make her good? O, let her brother live!
l181l		Thieves for their robbery have authority,
l182l		When judges steal themselves. What, do I love her,
l183l		That I desire to hear her speak again,
l184l		And feast upon her eyes? What is ’t I dream on?
l185l		O cunning enemy, that, to catch a saint,
l186l		With saints dost bait thy hook! Most dangerous
l187l		Is that temptation that doth goad us on
l188l		To sin in loving virtue. Never could the strumpet,
l189l		With all her double vigour—art and nature—
l190l		Once stir my temper# but this virtuous maid
l191l		Subdues me quite. Ever till now
l192l		When men were fond, I smiled, and wondered how.
		(Exit)